Death
Death.
This is a subject matter we all have to deal with at some time … why not now?
I have an essay, DEATH 1. It is about the death of my mum; my children's grandmother and my grandchildren's great-grandmother. Since I plan to produce videos of me reading my essays (this is my YouTube channel) ... I was wondering just how I would approach this one. Finally I managed to work it out …
These are the footnotes to the essay. I believe they probably could go some way to helping someone who has to deal with the death of a loved one just like I had to deal with the loss of my mother:
During the years my mother was dying, I employed a thought-process that helped me greatly with my emotions. I made myself aware that a person does not ‘pass away’, but ‘passes on’. I think of our selves, our soul, as living eternally; our current life on earth is just a brief appearance of soul in a body - temporary, fleeting and over in little more than an instance.
For us to accept this belief may bring us inner peace. Then we can move toward resolving any issues we may have with friends or relatives. We realise that they - or ourselves - may ‘pass on’ any day, any minute, any second. All along we know that dying is natural, inevitable and normal. The best we can do is be ready and put ourselves at peace with our loved ones … and indeed with all of humankind.
But how do we cope with an untimely or violent death? Probably the only way to come to terms with such a situation is to believe in karma. In a spiritual sense, a person dying is never untimely - the time of death is in our destiny. And the kind of death we endure is governed by our karma. Worldly justice must be done, of course, but again, in a spiritual sense, a death is never unjust.
So how does one deal with a murderous drink-driver? For the victim, the violent death is a karmic debt repaid. But if the person who has caused this death is not brought to justice as we would like to see justice done, only the belief in higher justice can put us at ease. Then we know that due karma is assigned to the perpetrator, who must repay it - if not in this, then in a future life.
In the essay I mention that we decided not to have my mum fed intravenously to proplong her life: *This course of action prompted her doctor, a Catholic, to suspend treatment and stop seeing her - whereas it was supported by the management of the Protestant-run hospice.
**When my Mum mentioned her Near Death Experience, I asked her to tell me more - but she did not elaborate. For information about NDEs, go to www.near-death.com
**The observance of passing through a dark tunnel toward a light at the time of death is a well-documented neurological phenomenon - not a religious experience.
Other essays relating to this subject matter: JUSTICE, KARMA